Noquemanon 51km Report Part 1

Friday

4:00 p.m. Sarah and I arrived at the most delightful cabin on Lake Superior and set about unpacking our gear and setting up a waxing area in the laundry room. Kerri called to say that they were about an hour out, and so I started getting my skis ready and waited for her to get there so we could carpool into Marquette to get our race packets. At this point the Swix waxing recommendation for the race was calling for klister as the kick wax of the day. Klister is this unbelievably sticky substance that is used for kick when conditions are particularly icy. It is really, really messy. I hate to use it unless it's absolutely necessary. So I prepped the kick zone and waxed the glide portion of my skis while I waited for Kerri to get there.

5:30 p.m. Kerri and I headed into Marquette. Packet p/u and waiver signing went super quick, and we were back in the truck within 15 minutes.

6:00 p.m. I checked the internet again to see if maybe they'd changed the klister recommendation. They hadn't, and so I ironed in a layer of base klister. They were calling for 4-5 layers of VR40 over the klister, but I figured that could wait until morning.

6:30 p.m. We all sat down for a tasty dinner of spaghetti and meatballs prepared by Sarah.

7:15 p.m. I helped Kerri get her skis ready and waxed.

8:30 p.m. I retired to one of the upstairs bedrooms with my laptop and some Netflix. Lights out shortly thereafter.



Saturday

4:00 a.m. I woke up to check the alarm and make sure it was still set. For some reason this is fairly common for me the night before a race. I would continue to wake up every 30 minutes or so until the alarm finally went off around 5:45.

5:45 a.m. I got up, got the coffee going, and started thinking about breakfast.

6:25 a.m. Put a couple pieces of sprouted grain toast in the toaster and poured a big bowl of granola. I lathered the toast with some crunchy peanut butter and covered the granola with some skim milk. I tried to choke it all down, but in the end I probably only ended up eating about 2/3 of my breakfast (this would come into play later in the day).

7:00 a.m. I applied the 4-5 layers of VR40 over the klister, and it went on surprisingly well. I'd never mixed klister with traditional kick wax before, but that's what the wax wizard said so I did it.

7:30 a.m. We departed the cabin for the start in downtown Ishpeming. The temperature gauge in the truck registered -4 degrees. F**k that's cold was about all I was thinking on the way there.

8:10 a.m. We pulled into the parking lot adjacent to the start. It was still -4. Kerri and I set about slowly finishing our race prep. in the truck (with the heat on). I got my heart rate monitor fired up, got my boots on, packed my food for the race, mixed my bottles, and tried not to think about the cold.

8:45 a.m. I finally ventured out of the truck to do a quick "warm-up". I made it over to the start line and clipped into my skis. I had my fingers crossed that the whole klister/kick wax combo was going to work, and it did. I got in a good 10 min. ski before lining up near the back of the pack.

9:00 a.m. Go.

(to be continued)